Another on the list of OL's finest episodes, this one often gets overlooked. THE INVISIBLES is an extremely well-written, well-acted, dark offering of spy counter-twists and alien paranoia. Don Gordon is excellent as Luis Spain, who along with two other outcasts, looks to join a secret society known as 'The Invisibles'. The organization is bent on world conquest by making top government officials and other VIPs hosts for alien entities. There are several eerie moments early, as we see the means and occasional, tragic results of alien attachment.

The pacing, dialogue and editing are superb and really hold your interest. Plus the supporting cast is great. George MacReady, as the head of 'The Invisibles', is a stand-out. Neil Hamilton (TV’s “BATMAN”), Richard Dawson (“HOGAN’S HEROES”, “FAMILY FEUD”), Walter Burke (“JACK THE GIANT KILLER”) and Tony Mordente also provide great input and moments as well.

The Control Voice has top material here, and even gets a comic moment during the opening intro. The beginning also has one of my favorite OL quotes – about the wind, the gutter and newspapers. This episode is another example of great black and white television from the '60s with a noir look. Fans of THE X-FILES would definitely enjoy this and note its influence. Not to be missed.

“You do not know these men. You may have looked at them but you did not see them. They are the wind that blows newspapers down a gutter on a windy night...and sweeps the gutter clean.” ~ Control Voice

Last edited by Lunkenstein on May 13th, 2007, 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I hope not either David, and I don't support what they're doing to the original STAR TREK (even if it is by fans or even if Roddenberry would approve if he were still alive). I agree with your philosophy - these should be part of the ages. Why can't the marketing people just give us the best quality possible while leaving the original shows intact?

Afa, they're re-doing the original STAR TREK episodes by digitally replacing most of the original special effects with new CGI ones, such as the Enterprise itself, planets they orbit, the Doomsday Machine, etc. They've also tampered with the original music in spots I believe. The new CW network is running them at various times (I've seen it 11:00am Sundays in my area). TV Land is still currently showing the unaltered originals (late night and early morning I think).

Outrageous. I don't understand the point of doing this. You could CGI all the effects in the Ray Harryhausen movies too, but what about the work of the original effects artists? Is that supposed to be lost just because someone can create those effects on a computer? Whoever came up with this idea is a pantsload. I suppose they'll CGI the orange shag rug creature from DEVIL IN THE DARK and the salt sucking monster from THE MAN TRAP as well.

I think it's terrible too. Pretty sure the Doomsday Machine itself was totally replaced. I saw part of DEVIL IN THE DARK and they didn't completely replace the shag rug creature, but they added sparkle effects on to it. I heard they did something similar with the Gorn in ARENA, not replacing it entirely, but adding things like having him blink, etc. It's still wrong and a dangerous trend. If it's successful, nothing will be off-limits - even the finger marks on Kong's fur.

As you can tell by my current sig, I've really come to hate CGI. I think it's causing more harm than good in move making today, and to use it to re-tool classics is sacrilege to me.

what about the work of the original effects artists?

Some fans who are supporting the STAR TREK revisions now note the old effects as looking crappy and cheesy. Sad, isn't it? It's particularly a crime thinking about the original effects artists - to have someone come in and say, "Hey, that looks awful. We'll fix it and put this kick-ass effect in." The original work is then totally lost. The argument that the originals will always still be available isn't necessarily a given. When colorization was rampant in the '80s, some of the B&W versions were much more difficult to find.

Last edited by Lunkenstein on April 1st, 2007, 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.